July 31, 2009, 10 AM
We arrived at our final stop of the trip yesterday afternoon at Cloud & Fire Ministries in North Hills. We had the opportunity to spend the afternoon with kids from the neighborhood as they came for tutoring. Some kids are in school right now, so they needed help with homework and the others played board games with our team. Courtney, one of the staff members who used to work at Bel Air, hosted us and told us about the area. There is substantial gang activity in this neighborhood with two local rival gangs always at odds with each other. Cloud and Fire exists to help at-risk kids in the area.
After tutoring we went to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant and celebrated Carrie’s birthday! Knowing first hand the joy it is of having several birthdays on youth trips, and even more special on mission trips, we tried to honor the amazing person that Carrie is. Not sure if we succeeded, but I really think its great that she chose to help lead this trip knowing it would be on her birthday.
That night we went to the Sepulveda Rec Center where the city hosts Summer Night Lights, a program that targets parks in the City’s Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD) zones and expands programming, after-school activities, athletic leagues, art initiatives and family programs. The anti-gang initiative keeps City parks open after dark with organized activities for at-risk youth, therefore providing a safe place to spend the summer.
After going to the park we took some time as a team to start the process of integrating our experiences this week with what God thinks about the issues we have faced. Each team member chose a story from the gospels of Jesus interacting with those who were poor or oppressed. Then we discussed preparing ourselves to go “home” (I put that in quotations marks since we are home in LA and we want to embrace the whole city as our home, but in this sense I mean home as in our lives and how we are used to living).
On a personal note, I am amazed at how much this feels like we’ve been really far away for a week. Even though we have been in the same city, we have been so many places and done so much, that this mission trip feels like any other international trip I have been on when coming home – exhausted, inspired, having difficulty explaining what happened, unsure of how to assimilate back into my life, etc. In some ways it is more intense than an international trip because we are not really leaving this place, so it is going to be difficult to reconcile our lives with this week’s experiences.
Overnight we slept in the tutoring center, sharing one toilet and shower (yay for community!). This morning we had breakfast and packed up. We had planned to do a service project at Hope Gardens, but due to an outbreak of chicken pox, they are not allowing volunteer groups for a few days. So instead, we have come back to Bel Air earlier than expected and are taking a couple of hours to clean the streets around the church as part of the Adopt-A-Highway program. Later this afternoon we will have some time to continue the debriefing process and prepare for the banquet tonight.
Here are some thoughts from students on our time at Cloud and Fire:
“Cloud and Fire tutors kids at rick from gang activity, centered between two rival gangs. They also play with kids to help them live lives away from gangs.” -Austin
“Cloud and Fire was really awesome. I was unsure at first because we had no idea what we were going to do. Once the kids started coming we began playing with them and just talking to them. In the neighborhood there is a lot of gang activity but the organization is working to give the children another option.” -Cloe
“Cloud and Fire is a great place and safe environment for kids to escape the distractions of their home life and come and get help. A quiet area for them to learn in and a place for them to let loose and just focus on being kids.” -Casey
“Playing with the kids at Cloud and Fire was so much fun! The kids were all so sweet and down to earth. I am so glad that Cloud and Fire is always a safe haven for the kids that come there because they deserve it!” -Tori
